IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/vfsc14/100431.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Overaccumulation, Public Debt, and the Importance of Land

Author

Listed:
  • Homburg, Stefan

Abstract

In recent contributions, Weizs cker (2014) and Summers (2014) maintain that mature economies accumulate too much capital. They suggest large and lasting public deficits as a remedy. This paper argues that overaccumulation cannot occur in an economy with land. It presents novel data of aggregate land values, analyzes the issue in a stochastic framework, and conducts an empirical test of overaccumulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Homburg, Stefan, 2014. "Overaccumulation, Public Debt, and the Importance of Land," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100431, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc14:100431
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/100431/1/VfS_2014_pid_61.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Homburg, Stefan, 1992. "Efficient Economic Growth: Chapter 1. Introduction," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 92903, September.
    2. Andrew B. Abel & N. Gregory Mankiw & Lawrence H. Summers & Richard J. Zeckhauser, 1989. "Assessing Dynamic Efficiency: Theory and Evidence," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 56(1), pages 1-19.
    3. Cass, David, 1972. "On capital overaccumulation in the aggregative, neoclassical model of economic growth: A complete characterization," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 200-223, April.
    4. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    5. Gabrielle Demange, 2002. "On optimality in intergenerational risk sharing," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 20(1), pages 1-27.
    6. Paul A. Samuelson, 1958. "An Exact Consumption-Loan Model of Interest with or without the Social Contrivance of Money," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(6), pages 467-467.
    7. Lawrence Summers & Chris Carroll, 1987. "Why Is U.S. National Saving So Low?," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 18(2), pages 607-642.
    8. Buiter, Willem H., 1989. "Debt neutrality, Professor Vickrey and Henry George's 'single tax'," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 43-47.
    9. Chattopadhyay, Subir, 2008. "The Cass criterion, the net dividend criterion, and optimality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 335-352, March.
    10. Ben S. Bernanke & Kenneth S. Rogoff (ed.), 2001. "NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2000," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262523140, December.
    11. Sinn, Hans-Werner, 1981. "Capital income taxation, depreciation allowances and economic growth: A perfect-foresight general equilibrium model," Munich Reprints in Economics 19913, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    12. Henry C. Simons, 1942. "Hansen on Fiscal Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(2), pages 161-161.
    13. Zheng Liu & Pengfei Wang & Tao Zha, 2013. "Land‐Price Dynamics and Macroeconomic Fluctuations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(3), pages 1147-1184, May.
    14. Ben S. Bernanke & Kenneth Rogoff, 2001. "NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2000, Volume 15," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bern01-1.
    15. Kim, Kyung-Soo & Lee, Jaewoo, 1997. "Reexamination of dynamic efficiency with taxation on land," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 169-175, December.
    16. Balasko, Yves & Shell, Karl, 1980. "The overlapping-generations model, I: The case of pure exchange without money," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 281-306, December.
    17. Davis, Morris A. & Heathcote, Jonathan, 2007. "The price and quantity of residential land in the United States," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(8), pages 2595-2620, November.
    18. Maurice Obstfeld & Kenneth Rogoff, 2001. "The Six Major Puzzles in International Macroeconomics: Is There a Common Cause?," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2000, Volume 15, pages 339-412, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Jürg Niehans, 1966. "Eine vernachlässigte Beziehung zwischen Bodenpreis, Wirtschaftswachstum und Kapitalzins," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 102(II), pages 195-200, June.
    20. Zilcha, Itzhak, 1991. "Characterizing efficiency in stochastic overlapping generations models," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-16, October.
    21. Ben S. Bernanke & Kenneth Rogoff, 2001. "Editorial in "NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2000, Volume 15"," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2000, Volume 15, pages 1-4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Deaton, Angus & Laroque, Guy, 2001. "Housing, Land Prices, and Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 87-105, June.
    23. Wolfram Richter, 1993. "Intergenerational risk sharing and social security in an economy with land," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 91-103, December.
    24. Bohn, Henning, 1995. "The Sustainability of Budget Deficits in a Stochastic Economy," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(1), pages 257-271, February.
    25. Zilcha, Itzhak, 1990. "Dynamic efficiency in overlapping generations models with stochastic production," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 364-379, December.
    26. Homburg, Stefan, 2014. "Property taxes and dynamic efficiency: A correction," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 327-328.
    27. Feldstein, Martin S, 1977. "The Surprising Incidence of a Tax on Pure Rent: A New Answer to an Old Question," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(2), pages 349-360, April.
    28. Peter Rangazas & Steven Russell, 2005. "The Zilcha criterion for dynamic inefficiency," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 26(3), pages 701-716, October.
    29. Barbie, Martin & Hagedorn, Marcus & Kaul, Ashok, 2007. "On the interaction between risk sharing and capital accumulation in a stochastic OLG model with production," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 568-579, November.
    30. Nichols, Donald A, 1970. "Land and Economic Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 332-340, June.
    31. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1973. "Taxation, corporate financial policy, and the cost of capital," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-34, February.
    32. Martin Barbie & Ashok Kaul, 2009. "The Zilcha criteria for dynamic inefficiency reconsidered," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 40(2), pages 339-348, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. On forgetting land in models of secular stagnation
      by Nick Rowe in Worthwhile Canadian Initiative on 2014-04-11 16:22:19

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nöh Lukas & Schaffranka Claudia & Werding Martin, 2024. "Ergänzende Kapitaldeckung der Altersvorsorge: Gründe, Gestaltungsoptionen und Auswirkungen," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 25(1), pages 28-44, March.
    2. Hans-Werner Sinn, 2017. "What Marx Means Today," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 229-239, June.
    3. Heinz Gebhardt & Lars-H. R. Siemers, 2018. "Zur strukturellen Finanzlage der Laender: eine aktuelle Auswertung und Methodenkritik," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201837, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    4. Knolle, Julia, 2020. "Prosperity in a Low Interest Environment," MPRA Paper 104332, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Julia, Knolle, 2014. "An Empirical Comparison of Interest and Growth Rates," MPRA Paper 59520, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Martin F. Hellwig, 2023. "Overlapping-Generations Economies under Uncertainty: Dynamic Inefficiency/Efficiency with Multiple Assets and no Labour," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2023_04, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    7. Martin F. Hellwig, 2021. "Safe Assets, Risky Assets, and Dynamic Inefficiency in Overlapping-Generations Economies," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2021_10, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    8. Kleczka, Mitja, 2015. "Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy, and Secular Stagnation at the Zero Lower Bound. A View on the Eurozone," MPRA Paper 67228, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Siemers Lars-H. & Gebhardt Heinz, 2020. "Die strukturelle Besserung der Länderfinanzen in der Niedrigzinsphase: die trügerische Leichtigkeit des Scheins," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 54-78, April.
    10. Carl Christian von Weizsäcker, 2017. "Leviathan – Zum Gewaltmonopol des Staates – Wider den Protektionismus," ROME Working Papers 201701, ROME Network.
    11. van Suntum, Ulrich, 2018. "The natural interest rate in OLG modelling: A rehabilitation," CAWM Discussion Papers 103, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).
    12. Homburg, Stefan, 2017. "A Study in Monetary Macroeconomics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198807537.
    13. Knolle, Julia & Lehmann, Kai, 2016. "An Empirical Assessment of Global Capital Productivity," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-574, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    14. Kevin Luo & Tomoko Kinugasa & Kai Kajitani, 2018. "Dynamic efficiency in world economy," Discussion Papers 1801, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    15. Bofinger, Peter & Schnabel, Isabel & Feld, Lars P. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Wieland, Volker, 2015. "Zukunftsfähigkeit in den Mittelpunkt. Jahresgutachten 2015/16 [Focus on Future Viability. Annual Report 2015/16]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201516.
    16. Hellwig Martin F., 2022. "Dynamic inefficiency and fiscal interventions in an economy with land and transaction costs," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 23(1), pages 21-60, February.
    17. von Weizsäcker, Carl Christian, 2017. "Leviathan-Zum Gewaltmonopol des Staates-Wider den Protektionismus," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168219, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Martin Hellwig, 2021. "Der Zinssatz ist kein Preis [The Interest Rate Should not be Interpreted as a Price]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 101(11), pages 862-869, November.
    19. Stefano Di Bucchianico, 2021. "Negative Interest Rate Policy to Fight Secular Stagnation: Unfeasible, Ineffective, Irrelevant, or Inadequate?," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(4), pages 687-710, October.
    20. Michael Wolgast, 2016. "Das gegenwärtige Niedrigzinsumfeld aus Sicht der Sparkassen," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 85(1), pages 11-29.
    21. Spahn, Peter, 2016. "Population growth, saving, interest rates and stagnation: Discussing the Eggertsson-Mehrotra model," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 04-2016, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    22. von Weizsäcker Carl Christian, 2015. "Kapitalismus in der Krise?: Der negative natürliche Zins und seine Folgen für die Politik," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 189-212, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Julia, Knolle, 2014. "An Empirical Comparison of Interest and Growth Rates," MPRA Paper 59520, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Philippe Weil, 2008. "Overlapping Generations: The First Jubilee," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(4), pages 115-134, Fall.
    3. Martin Barbie & Marten Hillebrand, 2018. "Bubbly Markov equilibria," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 66(3), pages 627-679, October.
    4. Kevin Luo & Tomoko Kinugasa & Kai Kajitani, 2018. "Dynamic efficiency in world economy," Discussion Papers 1801, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    5. Barbie, Martin & Hagedorn, Marcus & Kaul, Ashok, 2001. "Government Debt as Insurance against Macroeconomic Risk," IZA Discussion Papers 412, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Bertocchi, Graziella & Kehagias, Athanasios, 1995. "Efficiency and optimality in stochastic models with production," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 19(1-2), pages 303-325.
    7. Gaetano Bloise & Pietro Reichlin, 2023. "Low safe interest rates: A case for dynamic inefficiency?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 51, pages 633-656, December.
    8. Knolle, Julia, 2020. "Prosperity in a Low Interest Environment," MPRA Paper 104332, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Schoonbroodt, Alice & Tertilt, Michèle, 2014. "Property rights and efficiency in OLG models with endogenous fertility," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 551-582.
    10. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/8712 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Wigniolle, B., 2014. "Optimism, pessimism and financial bubbles," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 188-208.
    12. Alice Schoonbroodt, 2010. "Who Owns Children and Does It Matter?," Working Papers id:2360, eSocialSciences.
    13. Chattopadhyay, Subir, 2008. "The Cass criterion, the net dividend criterion, and optimality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 335-352, March.
    14. Homburg, Stefan, 2017. "A Study in Monetary Macroeconomics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198807537.
    15. Barbie, Martin & Hagedorn, Marcus & Kaul, Ashok, 2000. "Dynamic Efficiency and Pareto Optimality in a Stochastic OLG Model with Production and Social Security," IZA Discussion Papers 209, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/8712 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Oliver Falck & Siegfried Schönherr, 2016. "An Economic Reform Agenda for Croatia: a comprehensive economic reform package prepared for the Croatian Statehood Foundation," ifo Forschungsberichte, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 70.
    18. Martin Barbie & Ashok Kaul, 2009. "The Zilcha criteria for dynamic inefficiency reconsidered," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 40(2), pages 339-348, August.
    19. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/8712 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8712 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Chattopadhyay, Subir, 2006. "Optimality in stochastic OLG models: Theory for tests," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 131(1), pages 282-294, November.
    22. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum & Brent Neiman & John Romalis, 2016. "Trade and the Global Recession," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(11), pages 3401-3438, November.
    23. Hassler, J. & Lindbeck, A., 1997. "Intergenerational Risk Sharing, Stability and Optimality of Alternative Pension Systems," Papers 631, Stockholm - International Economic Studies.
    24. Henryk Bak & Sebastian Maciejewski, 2015. "Asymmetric shocks and international risk sharing in the European Monetary Union and the European Union," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 46(6), pages 523-564.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc14:100431. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfsocea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.